Xylenitic resin and process of making same



Patented Nov. 20, 1934 XYLENITIC ansm AND rnooass or MAKING SAME Carleton Ellis, Montclair, N.'J., assignor to Ellis- Foster Company, a corporation of New Jersey No Drawing. Application November 24, 1924, Serial No. 751,867

26 Claims. (01. 260-4) This invention relates to synthetic resins, to phur in color and rather friable was obtained. molding compositions made therefrom and to the This was passed through a grinder to break up process of making same and relates particularly the lumps into a coarse powder and 100 parts by to resinous products prepared from the xylenols. Weight of the material were ground in a pebble 5 The xylenols, more particularly in the crude mill with 100 parts of wood flour for 2 hours. to

form as mixtures obtained from coal tar etc., re- In one case 1 per cent of carbon black for color-' act with aldehydes, for example formaldehyde, ing purposes and 1 per cent of aluminum palmito produce resinous substances. Heretofore the tate as a mold lubricant were added.

xylenols have been looked upon as of little value When molded in the hot pr ss at 165 C. for 3 in making synthetic resins for plastic molding minutesawell cured article was obtained, When 65 purposes especially in the production of quick hot from the mold the specimen had a very sl ght curing compositions. One object of the present degree of rubberiness which is desirable as it'perinvention is to employ the xylenols or fractions mits articles to be taken from complicated molds of crude distillates containing a large or prewithout breakage. However the degree of rub- 16 ponderating proportion of xylenols to make the beriness must be very slight otherwise deforma- 'm.

aforesaid resinous products and toemploy them tion map occur in removing the specimen. In by themselves or preferably with a filler to make the present case the time of cure was sufiiciently molding compositions which have the property of brief to meet commercial requirements, the de-v setting or hardening in the mold in a very short gree of rubberiness was just suflicient to over= 20 time thus enabling molded articles to be made come breakage losses without bringing about 75 very rapidly with low labor cost. deformation and the surface of the molded speci The xylenols especially in the crude form are ment was satisfactory. relatively cheap and the present invention has A peculiar feature of the resin is its lack of flow as a further object the production of molding when it is placed on a hot plate without filler. V compositions low in cost. A resin made from phenol and formaldehyde suf- 80 The following is an example of a procedure ficiently fusible to mold properly will even though carried out in accordance with my invention, alof the quick curing type flow out on a'hot plate though this is given in a detailed and specific rather freely and then suddenly set. The action manner I do not wish to be limited to such details. may be compared to that of the flow of pancake 80 parts by weight of magnesium oxide are batter on ahot griddle. The batter spreads free- 85 ground with 150 parts of aqueous formaldehyde ly to a certain point and then sets. This property of per cent strength. 120 parts of this ground is supposed to be necessary in order to obtain material (which in the first instance is creamy molding compositions which flow freely into all but gradually sets to a jelly) are mixed with 122 parts of the mold and yield a good impression.

parts of a distillate containing xylenols. The With the xylenitic resin of the present invention distillate is one which starts boiling between 200 th composition made i accordance t the and and Of which about 50 P Q lustrative formula when placed on the hot plate tills over up to 212 C the balance distilling over without finer did not flow but slightly softened Petween 220 225 P fractmn is soluble It was assumed that this resin had been reacted, m aqueoqs causiilc soda solutlontoo far or under conditions which would make 95 The mlxture 1s warmed to 700 wlth aglta' what is termedanovercured product which would tion and is tested frequently by the fuchsine test not flow fie 91y in the mold Therefore it was to determine the time required for complete absorption of the formaldehyde. In the particular 2 53 2;; :32? 1:; g g g gig giz ggzi fi igzg 45 example given t e time requ red w s minu es article was obtained, the flow g adequate but this presumably will vary somewhat dependmg upon the size the batch which is being despite the adverse indications 1n the hot plate processed. At the end of 25 minutes the fuchsine testtest shows only a faint coloration on standing for The method described above of incorporating 50 15 seconds. The product is a jelly-like substance filler is cheap and efficient. Filler of a porous 105 light in color. This is dried in a vacuum dryer character such as wood flour may be incorporated to constant weight which in the present instance with resin by means of solvents'which afterwards required 1 hour and 40 minutes in the vacuum are removed or the resin may be worked on rolls pan at a temperature finally caching 72 C. with the filler. The latter however involves con- 55 A li h y ll w m ss s m what r m ling sulsiderable labor cost and the present procedure of 1710 incorporating by grinding in a ball mill gives excellent results.

Various fillers may be employed such as mineral powders, clay, asbestos powder, whiting, gypsum and the like, fibrous asbestos, paper, flock etc.

The addition of hexamethylenetetramine is not precluded. It may be noted that when the resin without filler was molded in a press at 165 0. setting occurred in 50 seconds to such an extent that a pressure. of 1090 to 1200 pounds could be applied without forcing the resin out of the mold. Despite this rapid curing, the product as noted above yields an excellent impression on the mold.

The use of aldehydes other than formaldehyde including acetaldehyde, paraldehyde, furfural, butyl aldehyde, acrolein, benzaldehyde etc. or mixtures of these with or without formaldehyde is not precluded.

The reaction between the xylenols and the aldehyde may take place in an appropriate medium which may be acid, alkaline or neutral according to the nature of the aldehyde. For example acetaldehyde reacts advantageously in the presence'of an acid.

The use of other substances in place of magnesium oxide or hydroxide is not precluded, quick lime or calcium hydroxide, barium oxide, barium hydroxide and the like also may be employed. However the latter substances as also hexamethylenetetramine have a greater tendency to form blisters in the molded articles. Magnesium oxide especialh when employed approximately mol for mol with the xylenols enables the production of the peculiar resinous substance which under ordinary pressure appears to have poor flowing qualities but which in the mold flows readily and sets quickly. a

Although I have described the invention with reference to the employment of crude mlen'ols containing some cresols I may use fractions the boiling point of which starts somewhat higher and are practically free from cresols.

In the specification and claims I have used the brief term xylenitic resin to embrace the products of the present invention whether these be prepared from xylenols or crude xylenois and aldehydes in the presence of an acid or whether a substance such as magnesium oxide or calcium oxide is employed to obtain xylenates in greater or less degree and xylenate resins corresponding thereto.

What I claim is:-

1. xvlenol-formaldehyde-magnesium o x i d e 'resin softening but not flowing on a hot plate at atmospheric pressure but flowing freely and setting to a hard mass when'subiected to hot pressing at a temperature of about 165 C.

2. The process of making a synthetic resin which comprises causing substantially pure xylenol to react with a second reactant of the type that is used in the preparation of phenolic resins to give an initial condensation product which is capable of being converted by further heating into a hard, infusible, insoluble resin.

3. The process of making a synthetic resin which comprises causing substantially pure xylenol to react with a compound having an aidehyde group to give an initial condensation prod-- uct whichis capable of being converted by further heating into a hard, infusible. insoluble resin.

4. The process of making 'a synthetic resin which comprises causing formaldehyde to react with substantially pure xylenol to give an initial condensation product which is capable of bein converted by further heating into a hard, infusible, insoluble resin.

5. The process of making a synthetic resin which comprises causing substantially pure xylenol and a second reactant of the type that is used in the preparation of phenolic resins to react to form an initial condensation product and thereafter further heating the compound to form a hard, infusible, insoluble resin,

6. The process of making a synthetic resin which comprises causing substantially pure xylenol and an aldehydic compound to react to form an initial condensation product and thereafter further heating the compound to form a hard, infusible, insoluble resin.

7. The process of making a synthetic resin which comprises causing substantially pure xylenol and formaldehyde to react to form an initial condensation product and thereafter further heating the compound to form a hard, infusible, insoluble resin. 7

8. An initial condensation product resulting from the reaction between a second reactant 0f the type that is used in the preparation of phenolic resins and substantially pure xylenol which is capable of transformation into a hard, infusible, insoluble resin by further heating.

9. An initial condensation product resulting from the'reaction between an aldehydic. com-' pound and substantially pure xylenol which is capable of transformation into a hard, infusible, insoluble resin by further heating.

10. An initial condensation product resulting from the reaction between formaldehyde and substantially pure xylenol which is capable of transformation .into a hard, infusible, insoluble resin by further heating.

11. A hard, infusible synthetic resin being the final reaction product obtained by fin'ther heating the initial condensation product obtained by reacting a second reactant of the type that is used in the preparation of phenolic resins and substantially pure xylenol.

12. A hard, infusible synthetic resin being the final reaction product obtained by further heating the initial condensation product obtained by reacting an aldehydic compound and substantially pure xylenol.

1a. A hard, infusible synthetic resin being the final reaction product obtained by further heating the initial condensation product obtained by reacting formaldehyde and substantially pure nlenol,

14. xylenitic resin softening but not flowing on a hot plate at atmospheric pressure but flowingfreely andsettingtoahardmasswhensubjected to hot pressing at a temperature of about 165 C.

15. A xylenol-furfln'al-formaldebyde resin.

16. The process of making resinous reacting products which comprises forming a xylenol formaldehyde resin, incorporating the same with fibrous material, and hardening the incorporated product by heat and pressure to convert said resinous body into its infusible form.

17. A resinous product including a condensation product resulting from the reaction between a second reactant of the type that is used in the preparation of phenolic resins and substantially pure xylenol which is capable of transformation into a hard infusible insoluble resin by further heating, and a filler of'flbrous material.

I 18. A fusible condensation product resulting from substantially pure xylenol and formaldehyde, and a filler.

19. A fusible condensation product from formaldehyde and a xylenol distillate having an initial boiling point of between 200 and 205 0. about of which distillate distils over at a temperature up to 212 C.

20. A light-colored fusible xylenol-fo'rmalde- 'hyde condensation product in substantially dry friable condition.

21. A resinous condensation product of formaldehyde and crude coal tar acids.

22. A base catalyzed resinous condensation product of formaldehyde and crude coal tar acids including a substantial amount of xylenol.

23. A magnesium oxide condensation product of formaldehyde and cmde coal tar acids including a substantial amount of xylenol.

24. A resinous product containing a xylenitic resin softening but not flowing on a hot plate at atmospheric pressure but flowing freely and setting to a hard mass when-subjected to hot pressing at a temperature of about165 C., and a brous filler.

25. A resinous product containing a hard, substantially ini'usible formaldehyde condensation product of coal tar acids, including a substantial amount of xylenol, and a fibrous filler.

26. The process of producing condensation products which comprises reacting formaldehyde with a xylenol distillate having an initial boiling point of between 200 and 205 C. about 50% of which distillate distils over at a temperature up to 212 C. in the presence of a compound selected from the group of oxides and hydroxides of alkali earth metals and magnesium.

CARLETON E1118. 

